Bring Yourself To Me
by jesstheevilfuzzy
Summary: Multiple Pairings Ringo needs to tell Ikki what's on her mind. Ikki is attempting to make sense of his own feelings, but so many things get in the way that he can't keep track anymore. Meanwhile, Kazu is having his own problems, as is Akito. Hmph. Love.
1. Its So Complicated

A/N: Okay, so just so that everyone knows, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction alone. If you want to critique my writing, go ahead, constructive criticism is always good. Or not constructive, you know…Whatever works for you…

At any rate. This is the first chapter of a story I intend to write. I'll hopefully update it every couple of days, or maybe more often than that, I don't know… I have time to write, due to insomnia… Yes, it has it's benefits…

Okay, sorry, off track. Oh yes, and reviews would motivate me to update more often, so… They'd be greatly appreciated. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this – I'm hoping it'll be better than the summary makes it sound.

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Okay, so you know that feeling where you know you're falling, but there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it? You can see the ground getting closer and closer, but all you're able to think about it 'damn, can I hit the concrete already?' You never think 'well, if I hit the ground _this_ way, my arms will break, but at least I'll still be breathing.' In fact, just to spite you, the ground will make sure it comes to meet you at _exactly_ the wrong angle, causing you the most pain possible. That's how I felt at that moment. Like I'd just fallen off a twenty-eight story building and I was only centimetres from the ground. That's teach me to forget about taking risks, now wouldn't it?

"Hey, uhh… Ringo?" The sound of my name brought me out of my somewhat dazed state, causing me to blink a few times in an attempt to make out the fuzzy figure in front of me.

"Ringo, are you okay?" Ikki's hair was the first thing that came into focus, followed quickly by a worried expression that seemed to have taken over his face. Bringing a hand up to rub my eye, I nodded.

"Yeah, of… Of course I am Ikki. What happened?" As I looked down at my feet and saw that my AT's were still fastened around them tightly, I remembered what I'd been doing before… Well… A couple of minutes beforehand

"I err… Knocked you off the roof." He put his hand behind his head, smiling in a way that suggested he wanted to seem innocent. Why would he have knocked me off the roof? He was really good with his AT's now – he didn't have these kinds of accidents. Oh well, at least that explained the feeling of falling – the twenty-eight stories may have been a bit of an exaggeration though.

"Why?" It seemed like a logical question.

"Why what?"

"Why did you knock me off the roof?"

"Jeez Ringo, it's not like I did it on purpose…"

Sighing, I shrugged. Perhaps it hadn't been such a logical question after all.

"Okay, well… Just so you know…" I paused for a second, gesturing towards his wheels. "Mikan's gonna kill you."

The look on Ikki's face as he just realised he'd broken another set of Mikan's wheels _would_ have been funny, only I knew just how badly he was going to suffer.

"Ringo, you _have_ to help me!" He was panicked now. He grabbed my shoulders as he spoke, shaking me a little bit. Why would I help him? Sure, he was Ikki and I lov-… Cared for him and all, but… Well, I couldn't be there _every_ time he screwed up.

"I can't Ikki. I've just been knocked off a building. I'm concussed." I pointed to my head as I spoke somewhat sarcastically, somehow thinking that that movement was supposed to symbolise a concussion.

"Ringo now is _not_ the time to be funny!" I hadn't seen him begging like this in ages. I was actually starting to feel sorry for him.

"Look, I'm sorry, but it's not my fault that you –"

"IKKI!" I could hear Mikan's voice coming from our house, even though we were almost a block away.

"Well just you wait Ringo. You'll cry for me when I'm dead. I hope you feel guilty." Oh, he thought he was _so_ good, but I just rolled my eyes. It didn't take long before Mikan came storming down the street, her face a _bright_ shade of red. If she'd been carrying some kind of sharp implement (or even a blunt one for that matter) I would have been seriously scared that she was about to murder us both. Well, let's just say that that was one of the moments where I _certainly_ didn't wish I was Ikki.

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IKKI'S POV

I was going to die. Plain and simple. Believe me, I'd considered running away, and it had sounded really tempting. But how could I just leave Ringo? I mean, I'd just knocked her off a freaking building! Then again, as I looked over to the pink-haired figure that was now storming towards me, I began to think that maybe Ringo would be fine on her own this time.

"Ikki, you might wanna run…" I glanced towards Ringo, attempting to make a final decision on whether or not she was right. I looked back towards the house, trying to judge how far off Mikan was. She'd disappeared. _Now_ I was scared. She was clever – she was probably hiding somewh-

"HA! You are going DOWN PUNK!" My thoughts were cut off by this horrible pain in my… Well, in my everywhere. I tried to move my arms, but they seemed to be attached to my head. I tried to kick out with my legs, but they seemed like they were already bent backwards. I was so screwed.

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"GAH MIKAN IS MY KING! QUEEN! … GOD!" I banged against the bathroom door, trying _desperately_ to smash it down. I swear it hadn't been that hard before… Anyway. It wasn' the fact that I was stuck in the bathroom that was bothering me, it was the fact that they'd stuck Akito in there ­_with_ me. Every couple of minutes I'd dare to look at him, and he'd meet my gaze with this look that said… Well, you know. Let's just say that me being the manly man that I am… It made me feel weird and uncomfortable.

"WILL YOU QUIT IT?" I could hear snorts of laughter coming from the other side of the door as I yelled at Akito. Damn Mikan… Arrogant cow. Bet she thought it was hilarious.

"Quit what, Ikki?" Akito smiled back innocently in a way that should have made me want to throw up, but weirdly enough, didn't actually make me feel sick.

"Forget it." I sighed, throwing myself desperately at the door.

"I fucking hate you Mikan. This is bullshit you know." Oh, but she _did_ know. That was what pissed me off.

"I know it is Ikki… And you should enjoy it while it lasts." What the?

"Hey, Ikki?" Oh, what was the point? I was stuck in here, I might as well talk to the poor guy. I was probably just being paranoid anyway.

"Yeah?"

"Since we're in here… Do you wanna take a bath?"

"WHAT?!?" Nope, I hadn't been paranoid. This was what I was scared of. I jumped back about a metre, smashing my head against the wall.

"I want you to wash me Ikki! It'll be fun!" Fun. Right at that moment, I would have preferred to break off all my fingers successively with a spanner.

"NO AKITO, IT WON'T BE FUN!" I yelled, throwing myself at the door in one last attempt at freedom. Unfortunately for me, it opened, just as I was flying at it. Instead of the door, I hit something squishy and…

"Ikki, what are you DOING?" I was dreaming. I didn't want to look up, just in case it confirmed what I was dreading. Nope… I couldn't resist… I had to…

"Ringo." Of course, Ringo's face was exactly what I saw as I looked up to see what I'd landed on.

"I was coming to help you Ikki, you didn't have to… Molest me, or whatever it is you're doing." Molest her? What was she talking about? I wasn – Oh god. I'd landed in a very awkward position. I really didn't want to move (what guy honestly would?), but I knew that I'd get hit in the head if I didn't. And believe me, I didn't need any more injuries. I rolled sideways, so that half of me was on the ground.

"Oh, I was just… So happy to see you… Umm… Thought I'd… Give you a hug and say thanks…" I grinned, in an attempt to save myself. She just raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Okay, well… Not that I don't love it when you 'hug' me, but… Can you get odd me now?" She was blushing a little, which I thought was strange, but at least she didn't seem to be mad. Come to think of it, my face felt like it was burning a little bit too… Okay Ikki, ignore it. I rolled off the rest of her, lying face up on the ground for a minute as she smiled and walked off. See, normally right then I would've made sure to look up her skirt, but you wanna know what's weird? Right then, I didn't. Wow, I had some kind of newfound respect for her. Where had that come from? Suddenly, I noticed she'd doubled back.

"Umm… Hey Ikki?" Hmm, by the tone of her voice, this sounded important.

"Yeah?" I replied as I pretty much jumped into a standing position.

"There's something I think I should tell you." Interesting…

"Oooh Ringo… Are you going to confess your love? I didn't know you felt that way…" I raised my eyebrow, giving her a suggestive look. I knew she wasn't actually going to confess her love, but I had to tease her.

"Well, actually…"

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Chapter two coming soon…


	2. Again I Go Unnoticed

A/N: Yep, second chapter. A bit longer than the first. Oh the many joys. Again, reviews are appreciated, feel free to critique… So on and so forth. Enjoy. )

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"Well, actually…" Oh god, what had I done? She WAS going to confess some kind of love? This was so weird; this was so unexpected, did I feel the same way? Oh the _questions_ I was going to have to answer…

"Actually I was just going to say that Kazu wanted to talk to you. He told me this morning, but I forgot to tell you. Sorry… He said it was kind of urgent…" Stupid Ringo. Why couldn't she have just said that straight out? No, that would have been too easy. Instead, she had to drag it on, make it seem like it was something I was going to actually have to be excited about… Wait, I would have been _excited_ if Ringo had confessed undying love? Oh well. I wasn't going to try and comprehend that at that moment.

"Okay.. Thanks… Did he say when? Or where?" I thought I'd better ask about the details. It was a good way to distract me from the strange thoughts I'd been having a second ago, anyway.

"Umm… Around midday? At the park?" She didn't sound so sure but I was going to take her word for it. Looking to the clock on the wall, I noticed that it was already 12:15. Hopefully Kazu would still be there. Nodding to Ringo, I turned, practically running out the door. Mikan had taken my AT's (bitch) so I had to just go in sneakers. I'd really have to run. Suddenly, as I got to the door, I had a thought. Well, no, not so much a thought as… An impulse? It seemed like I was getting a few of those lately. Turning back to Ringo, I called out.

"Hey, Ringo?" She turned her head to look at me, her hair flicking around to the other side of her neck. It always amazed me how girls hair did that. How was it possible? Anyway. Not important.

"Yes?" She was pretty quick to answer.

"Come with me." I smiled hopefully, still wondering why I'd felt the need to ask. Perhaps it was because I just didn't want to walk there alone? Or maybe it was because I hadn't done anything with Ringo in a long time, and it was starting to bug me. I don't know. At any rate, she looked pretty glad to be asked, and nodded, a big smile making its way across her face. That made me feel good – I'd made someone happy.

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We didn't talk about much when we were walking. Basically I just bragged about the fact that I had so much AT talent, and she stayed pretty quiet, seemingly happy just to listen. I'll never get that. She was the one wearing the AT's, so she had every right to begin taunting me – but she didn't. Why was that? How could she be so content just to listen to me go on and on, when she should have been the one making me jealous? That's just Ringo I guess.

As we got to the park, I saw Kazu sitting on one of the benches, with Emily sitting next to him. She seemed to be sitting as close as she possibly could without looking suspicious. From the look on his face though, she was suspicious enough for him to be able to notice it. I couldn't help myself. As I walked towards them, I let a big grin cover my face.

"Hey, how are you two lovebirds going?" I'd barely finished saying it before Ringo turned around, smacking me across the shoulders. It hadn't been _that_ bad, had it? I mean, it was kind of obvious that Emily liked Kazu, so… Oh well, the look on Ringo's face suggested that I shouldn't argue with her. I rolled my eyes, sitting down on the bench next to Kazu.

"What's up?" As I asked him, Kazu gave me a look that suggested he really wanted Emily to get the hell away. I couldn't just turn around and ask her to go, but there had to be some way to talk to him alone…

"Hey, Emily? Come over to the swings with me, I wanna tell you something." Ringo saved my life. I swear, the number of times she's done that… She flashed a huge smile at me as she walked away with Emily, who now looked really excited. Girls and their gossip…

"So, you and Ringo, eh?" Kazu, strangely enough, didn't seem that happy about what he'd just said. I mean sure, it wasn't true, but… Usually when I teased someone, I at least smiled. Maybe he wasn't teasing? Maybe he honestly thought we were going out?

"What? No! No way!" I don't know why I'd tried _that_ hard to deny what he'd said, but… I suppose it didn't matter.

"Why?" That answer shocked me. Why wasn't I going out with Ringo? What kind of a question was that? She was Ringo! It wasn't like that!

"What do you mean why?"

"Well, what's wrong with her?" That shocked me even more. There was nothing _wrong_ with her… In fact… Why _weren't_ we going out? I'd never honestly thought about it. She was just… Ringo. I guess I'd always thought of her as more of a sister. A sister who had really nice… Okay, I was stopping there. It didn't matter. This was one of the weirdest conversations I'd had in awhile, and it was so unlike Kazu to start them.

"Nothing's wrong with her! She's just…"

"She's just WHAT? You're missing it Ikki! You have no idea how lucky you are!" Okay, now I was starting to get suspicious. This was a really strange thing to be talking about, and Kazu's answers to my questions were really starting to scare me. What was he, in _love_ with her or something? And what did he mean I was lucky? Because I lived with her? Because… Really, I had no clue.

"What do you _mean_? Seriously – explain this!"

"She likes you." Oh. Oh de -. Hmm. I really had no response for that. So when I'd been worrying earlier about her confessing undying love, I really should have been worrying? Nah. Of course not. Kazu was kidding. But… The look on his face… And how would he know anyway? 

"She wh – what?" I'd never been unsure like this. Okay, I _had_, but not about trivial things…

"It's obvious Ikki, it's like me and freaking Emily. I can't believe you haven't noticed it. You should just… Look, you two work really well, okay?" This was way more than I was capable of processing in one day. I would have had no clue whether or not I would consider going out with Ringo. Why did Kazu want me to do this? Why did he care? I had the feeling there was something he wasn't telling me, but I had no clue what it was. I stayed quiet for a minute, deciding that I had absolutely nothing to say. Luckily, Kazu spoke again.

"Maybe we should get our act together. Maybe AT's aren't everything, Ikki. Maybe we should actually, you know… Be grateful for what we have? I mean with Emily. And Ringo… I'm serious Ikki. You don't know lucky you are to have her."

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KAZU'S POV

"Why do you keep saying that? What do you mean I'm lucky? Why are you so… Focused on getting me and Ringo together?" _Because I want her to be happy, and you're the only one that can do that. _Ikki really didn't realise how lucky he was. He had this amazing girl that was pretty much in love with him, and he just discarded her. Me, on the other hand, I had Emily. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be in his position. I mean sure, she was pretty and nice and all, but… Look, there's only so many times you can take being called 'sweetie' in one day.

"Because…" I couldn't tell him. Yeah, Ikki was my best friend, but I couldn't even tell him about how I honestly felt. "Don't worry." The look he gave me said that he definitely suspected something was up, but I didn't really care. He wouldn't figure it out. God, he couldn't even figure out that Ringo adored him, and she'd been making it blatantly obvious for ages.

"Okay." Suddenly, Ikki stood up. He seemed to be looking over at Emily and Ringo – what the hell was up with him?

"Err, Ikki, where are you going?"

"I'm going to ask Ringo if it's true."

"You're WHAT?" He was going to _what?_ If he just walked up to her and asked, there could be a serious disaster. I mean, I don't understand girls or anything, but I _can_ guess that they don't like being asked questions like that in front of a bunch of other people.

"I'm just gonna go ask her if it's true. What's the big deal?" There was no stopping him. He marched over to the swings, heading over to the side where Ringo was. Casually, he leant on one of the metal bars that were holding them up. Of course, I had to follow him.

"Hey, Ringo, can I ask you something?" Ringo seemed a little scared by this request, but there wasn't anything I could do to help her. I wanted to, but… Unfortunately, I'd have to skip out on the knight in shining armour thing this time.

"Umm… Sure Ikki, what is it?" She looked a little confused now. I'd be scared too if I was her.

"Well, Kazu reckons you've got a big crush on me. Is it true?" He grinned, obviously expecting her to say that no, it wasn't true. Ringo, on the other hand, went the brightest shade of red I've ever seen _anyone_ go. Seriously, it looked unnatural. God I felt sorry for her.

"Oh, umm… Ikki, I…" This time it was Ikki's turn to go an unnatural colour. He, however, went the opposite to Ringo. All of the colour drained OUT of his face, making him look like some kind of deformed polar bear. On two legs, obviously.

"Oh shit." _Now_ he realises I wasn't kidding. Funnily enough, I've never seen him run so fast in my life. He turned, quickly sprinting off into the distance. I was surprised he didn't throw up – but I knew it would only be a matter of time before he did. I kinda felt sorry for him – but it did sorta serve him right.

It was then that I realised I should probably check that Ringo was okay, considering… Well, I'm guessing that what had just happened hadn't been an ideal situation for her.

"Umm… Ringo… I… Uhh… Are you okay?" Yes, it had taken me THAT long to splutter three words. She, however, was growing slightly less beetroot-like as we spoke.

"Yeah Kazu, I'm fine… Just… Is it that obvious?"

"I hate to say it, but yeah." I almost accidentally said something about it being like Emily again, but luckily I stopped myself. Well, that could have been bad. I shrugged a little; making sure the look on my face was apologetic. Ringo smiled, but the smile seemed so forced that I really began to feel for her. I mean, I had before, but… Anyway.

"Oh well, it was bound to happen sometime, right?" She looked like she was about to cry. I nodded, looking apologetic once again as I leaned against the same place Ikki had been leaning against only moments ago.

"I think I'm gonna go home." Ringo attempted a smile once again, but it was kind of easy to see through. I nodded, waving a little bit. _Oh please god, don't leave me alone with Emily._ It was too late, she was already gone.

"So Kazu. I umm… Have a question for you." Now she was going bright red. What was this, a ripest tomato competition? Ringo won hands down, they should all just stop trying. At any rate, I nodded, trying to look interested.

"There's umm.. Going to be a dance at school soon. Do you want to… I mean would you… Will you go with me?" A dance? God, why would I want to go to a dance? I couldn't really say no though. I'd have to find a way to drag Ikki along with me. And maybe Ringo would come? There was a new incentive to go. I shrugged a little, managing a smile.

"Umm… Sure. Maybe Ikki and Ringo will come too?"

"I don't know, she looked pretty upset… And Ikki didn't look so good either.

"Ikki will be fine…" I sighed, leaning back against the pole as I rolled my eyes slightly. "He's always fine."

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Ahh, two chapters in two days. Not bad. On to chapter three!


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